1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of data processing. More specifically, the present invention relates to the secure rendering of digital content.
2. Background Information
With advances in integrated circuit and microprocessor, processor based computing devices are increasingly more powerful in terms of their processing capabilities. Processing power that was once available only in the most expensive mainframe systems are now available in even many entry level hand held consumer devices. As a result, increasingly, processing intensive rich contents of a wide variety of media types, including but are not limited to audio, video, graphic, and/or textual contents, are being made available and consumed on even the most basic ones of these processor based computing devices.
Concurrently, advances in networking and communication technologies have resulted in increasing number of these processor based computing devices being networked together. Such devices are often first coupled with a local area network, such as an Ethernet-based office/home network. In turn, the local area networks are interconnected together through wide area networks. Of particular importance is the global inter-network, the Internet. As a result of this trend of increased connectivity, an increasing amount of these rich multi-media contents are made available or distributed online.
One factor that continues to hinder the adoption of the digital format for rich multi-media contents (as opposed to the conventional analog format), and online distribution, is the relative ease of misappropriating these multi-media contents embodied in digital format (hereinafter, simply “digital content”). One characteristic that makes the misappropriation of digital contents particularly problematic is the fact that, unlike their analog brethrens, each successively misappropriated digital content remains as good in quality as the original.
A number of ciphering and deciphering techniques, including tamper resistant techniques, to protect the making and distribution of digital contents have been developed and known in the art. The term “tamper resistant” as used in this application refers to a broad range of techniques and/or measures employed to thwart and/or make difficult unauthorized meddling, interfering or other acts of like kind. However, notwithstanding the general increasing availability of processing power, many of these prior art techniques are found be insignificantly burdensome, especially if multiple media types of multiple content formats are to be supported in a secure manner, such as in the entry level computing environment.
Thus, a less burdensome, but sufficiently robust and flexible approach to securely render digital contents of multiple media types, and of multiple formats is desired. The term “rendering” refers to the physical manifesting of contents for use and/or enjoyment by a user/consumer, including but are not limited to visually and/or audibly manifesting the contents.